I hope you all are doing great. Recently,
I had been to one of the hidden secrets of UAE know as “wadi Al Helo” for
hiking and there is no better way to experience the wild beauty of the emirate
than on foot. We were bunch of people for this adventurous hiking tour plus
we also had two guides with us all the time showing the way and helping us throughout
the trek. Before going ahead with my experience let me introduce this place to
you all.

Wadi al Helo (‘sweet valley’ in Arabic) is home to an important archaeological site and a restored Islamic watchtower. Nestling in the Hajar mountains, between Kalba and Sharjah, Wadi Al Helo is touted as the Grand Canyon of the UAE, due to its rugged natural beauty. It has been declared a protected area, due to its bountiful birds, reptiles, rodents and freshwater fish. This place is 1 hr away from Dubai and recommended to opt for guide if you are new in town or for hiking. Also this place is more beautiful during rains and popular for full moon night view.

So are you all set for the hike? 😉
Let’s get started-

We reached the place at 10:00 Am
where we meet our handsome guides. We have been given the list of things to
carry with us during hiking which includes comfortable cloths, sport shoes, sunglasses,
water bottle, snacks, sunblock lotion and cap and we were all set with our
stuff. They gave us the brief of area, hiking tour and track.

We started our trek with the 1st mountain
which was smaller and less steep than another one. When I looked at it, I thought
it was easy and I can do it but as we started oh my gosh, it made me realized that
its not going to be that easy. Some how I reached half of the way and my heart
started pounding so fast which made me feel that it would soon jump out of my
mouth. I took a break of 10 mins and then I continued again and some how
managed to reach at the top. If you are lover of raw beauty like me then you
surely will be amazed by the stunning view which I loved watching from top of
the mountain. The View was just marvellous. Likewise, we started our hike for 2nd
mountain.

2nd mountain was bit easy than
first, to climb but while getting down it was too sharp as there were higher chances
of slipping down due to wobbly sand and stone. We all were very careful while
getting down plus helping each other to get down safe. Though few of them fell
down and got hurt but again its an hike and we need to be more alert managing
ourself. Every time the view was fabulous and different from another. I was damn
mesmerised with the view. My heart was so overwhelmed that I kept on clicking
the picture as I just wanted to cover each bit of the view in my little cam. We took a lunch break for half an hour which
was arranged by them and then we resumed our tour for 3rd mountain. Out of 7 we
just covered 3 mountains as it was getting difficult for everyone to hike and
also thanks to the sun for making trek bit difficult with its harsh rays.

As we were moving ahead towards
our 3rd mountain hike we enjoyed few archeologically site like watch tower,
well, fort etc. The last hike was too difficult as it was too steep to climb because
of narrow paths. Somehow, we all made it and reached at the top. Oh my gosh I swear
to god I went crazy with the view. It was superbly spectacular. Beautiful mountains,
paths, farms simply incredible. As all
say, “If you want to enjoy the view, be at that top and look behind to see how
far you have come.” We all were there for 30 mins, chit- chatting and enjoying
the view. We started getting down and again it was little tricky ‘coz of sheer
slopes. We all were so happy that we made it through these 3 big mountains as
every mountain was difficult and tricky from one another.

We gathered at our assembly point
had few fruits and water and then left for our place. Before leaving we, all
shared our hiking experiences with each other and their best moment. In this
entire trip, I was just thinking about how I managed my self to get through all
of these mountains.

If seen otherwise it also teaches
us the lesson that, we have to manage ourself in such a way that we should be
capable of overcoming all kinds of obstacles which are thrown in front of us,
getting through it, looking up at our goals and pushing ourself hard to reach
there. And once we reach there all we get is gorgeous and stunning view which
pays-off all our hard work.

I hope you enjoyed this beautiful journey of trekking with me. For videos do check my Instagram account. Love you all, see you soon in my next post till then take care my birdies.

I hope you all are doing well. Finally here comes my last day of the Trip to Azerbaijan-

Today is the most exciting trip I am gonna share with you all. We choose this place to relive nature ,to cherish nature and to embrace nature. We should always make last day of our trip remarkable and memorable, so we have planned for Mud volcano, near Gobustan. When we heard about this place on 2nd day of our trip my mind was stuck at moment imaging how it will look. So that moment itself we decided to visit this place no matter what.

Let’s start our trip-

We have checked out from our hotel in morning itself so that we could spend more time at Mud Volcano and from there we can directly go to the airport. As the place was approximately a couples of hour drive from our hotel. We have booked a four wheel drive vehicle for that place. As we were heading towards our destination we were amazed seeing oil pump factories and drilling machine all across the town. I mean they have so much of crude oil that where ever you start digging on that land you will get oil only, seriously.

When we have entered the starting point of our destination we noticed huge cracks in the land so we asked our guide and he informed us that it was due to earthquake.Thrilled! I have just heard that due to high rector earthquake there can be crack on land or few portion of land get absorbed in earth but let me tell you hearing is far away from what actually you see and feel, it’s terrific!. After watching that I really got scared whether it is okay to move ahead or not.

Finally we reached our destination and it was hard for my eyes to believe so many Mud volcanoes and the bubble sounds was rhythm to my ears. Oh my god, there were 250+ mud volcano (both small and big). All the mud volcano were live and mud was flowing out of it. We went to medium sized mud volcano to take a glance of it. when we reached on the top of volcano we could see mud bubble coming out which was tempting me because after watching that i really wanted to have chocolate. That sound was making me crazy so i dared to touch the mud and you won’t believe it was cold. Nature is really amazing. After reaching half of the way we observed some black oil on the land and at that movement itself our guide informed us that it’s a crude oil land. After hearing those word who can stop us to enhance the nature. We stepped on the land and you won’t believe it was too soft to walk on it. After seeing our excitement finally our guide warned us to stop and to come back as he was scared because there were possibility we could have gone inside it. So we stood at comfortable place where there was less danger and has enjoyed alot touching the raw crude oil. We didn’t knew being in nature can turn us into kids. I mean you all just imagine raw crude oil in front of your eyes,Just Wow. It was so thick and greasy that it became difficult to remove from our hand. We spent there 30 minutes and then moved to our actual destination for which I was really going nuts imagining how it will look.

Our guide informed us that due to different types of gases present in land, the mud volcano took place. If we apply this volcano for 20 minutes on scars, face, joints it will heal them. I brought that fresh mud in bottle but still i never dared to use it on my face. Whatever it may be, i enjoyed this place from the core. After being there for 1:30 hour finally we left for our airport. Though they have not included this destination in tourist spot but we have insisted our guide a lot for this trip and thanks to god that he agreed otherwise we would have missed the most beautiful thing of nature. As this land is full of natural resources like crude oil, varieties of gases, mud volcano and warrior’s history it’s a must visiting destination. I guess this will be the best day of our trip to be cherished ever and ever…

I hope you all enjoyed with me on this trip to Azerbaijan. Will take a leave now and will come back with some other exciting and informative post. Till then be optimist, be happy, as life is precious and comes with lots of Surprises. Take care…

Hey Angels
I am back to share my second last Day of our beautiful journey to Azerbaijan-

Shahdag- We started early in the morning around 8:30 as it was 3:15 hour journey. We have booked a private car. This was one of the best day of our entire trip. No more walking, more of relaxing, sports, scenery and fun. In the last three days, we were more indulged in exploring the city by walking, so we opted for a place which is beautiful as well as little soothing for us. Shahdag Mountains as name states place with mountains all over. This place is at the top of Azerbaijan and famous to visit in snow season for ice skating as it is the largest Ski resort in Azerbaijan. Before reaching Shahdaq we had been to small village to visit old famous mosque (advised to skip as lots to do more in Shadaq resort) and we hardly spent there 30 mins. As soon as we were getting closer to shahdag the temperature started dropping down. On each side of the road they have planted apple trees and greenery everywhere. Finally, we reached Shahdag around 2.00 p.m. enjoying hills and beautiful sceneries. The climate of shahdaq has supported us to enjoy the rides up to most. We had enjoyed chairlift, treasure park, Segway, bike and lots of photos. Suddenly at 4:00 p.m. temperature dropped and it was too cold, foggy and rainy to survive. This particulate change in climate helped us in relishing our trip. As it was getting too cold to survive we left the place at 5:00 p.m. before it gets foggier and confuse driver.

*Back to Baku- 8:00pm*

Little Venice- In evening we told our cab driver to drop us at “Little Venice” in Baku Boulevard. Baku Boulevard is a long park facing sea side. They have built a hotel surrounded with water giving a glimpse of Venice. We had a boat ride around the hotel. It was a nice ride. Thereafter, we had been to Maiden Tower which was opposite of “Little Venice” but it was closed so we were unable to explore it from inside.

Nizami Street
As it was out last night in Baku we went back to our most loved Nizami Street to have dinner and to complete our shopping. We enjoyed our entire day as it was fruitful.
“A Day to Remember”….

Journey with us for the last Day of the Trip. Till then be optimist, be happy, as life is precious and comes with lots of Surprises. Take care…Day 5 to be continued…

Gobustan Museum- We started early in the morning as it takes 2 hours to reach this place. It’s a wonderful place and a must visit place. Full of rocks, rock carvings and architecture. First we had been to museum where our guide has arranged an English attendant for us. She has explained us about the museum, their architecture, animal hunting and stone (gems) discovery, how they use to live their life, how they started drawing images of men, women, bull, goat etc. Their alphabets, pronunciation of words like for Kebab they will pronounce chebab and more.They also had few games in the museum which has stolen our time :). Thereafter we followed english attendants and she took us to Gobustan Rocks.

Gobustan Rock- We were not having any idea which place she was taking us and how it will be. But if someone is nature crazy then definitely this place will make you say “Oh la la”.Just reaching that place we were going crazy watching rock all over, cool breeze and what a scenic view. It just stole my heart. Then we started following her and she kept us explaining how they use to play music, how they might have done rock carvings, wishing hole to make a wish, etc. in short it was fun to know more about this things. On each and every single rock there were some carvings made by these people. It was amazing to watch and to specially for photoholic people like me for photo clicks ;). We have almost spent 2.30 hours taking selfies, exploring rock carvings and enjoying the cold breeze.

*Back to Baku*

Heydar Aliyev Center– This is in-short a museum based on their most loved president who has devoted his entire life for Azerbaijani people. They displayed in museum the car he used to drive in his presidentship tenure, dress he used to wear, small monuments of the places to see in Azerbaijan, Video displaying the treasury of Azerbaijan’s, their traditional dresses, different type of instruments, video of their traditional dance- which is actually fun to watch, their most famous carpets anyways Azerbaijan’s are famous for carpet and pottery, etc. Also they have a separate room where they have full video of their most loved president since childhood till his death. It is 40 min video but nice to watch. We spent 1.30 hours in the museum only thing i didn’t like about it was they wasted lot of space inside the museum. When we came out we saw at least 7-8 bride came for the photo shoot. They all were looking glamourous. The way this ladies decked up was not less than any hollywood heroine. My eyes were just looking at them wondering how beautiful god has created this ladies. We wished them, blessed them and moved on for our next target.

Mall 28- In night we had been to famous Mall in Baku named “mall 28”. We preferred to walk as it was 1.3 km one way from our hotel exploring roads, park and fountains . As I had been to malls in Dubai we did not found it that great. I mean, I felt that place is an isolated one. We were little disappointed by entering the mall and also it was getting difficult for us to explain people even if we required a cup of coffee (language barrier :(, they hardly know english). We hardly stayed there for 1 hour that too, one group was playing live traditional music which was treat to our ears. I have uploaded the video.

Ferry Ride- In evening, we had been to ferry ride where entire Baku was visible. Dazzling light, sea waves, Cold breeze were just kept on adding to our memories. It was a wonderful experience. It was 1 hour ride where they take you at a spot where entire city is visible. On rooftop of Boat (it is reserved for locals) locals were dancing on their traditional song, it was nice to see them dance. Here our trip was ended with our guide and we headed to hotel. Rest of our fellows went to explore Azerbaijan local food with our guide but we opted to explore mall and nearby places. Again for us food was an major issue as it was very difficult to get Veg food except 2 restaurant which I mentioned earlier.

I hope you found this blog interesting. Follow us for more update about Day 4- Shahdag Trip. Till then be optimist, be happy, as life is precious and comes with lots of Surprises. Take care…

Hi my Angels
WISH you all are doing fine and hope that you all might have gone through my BAKU- DAY-1 post. I hope you all liked it. Let’s continue our journey Day 2–

Today, this entire day was dedicated to Flames/Fire. Places we visited today had all one thing in common “FLAMES”. Here local people says “This place have witnessed many attacks and soldiers have dedicated their bloods to this place. So they represent their place as fire/flames” and can see symbol of flames on many places.They have also constructed the tallest LED Screened building named as “Flame towers”. Let’s Start our Journey…

We have visited Fire temple which was built by Hindu and Zoroastrian for their place to worship, heading towards pilgrimages. We were amazed to see that they have established Lord Ganesha and Shiva in the temple with Sanskrit shloka written on the wall. They have constructed a small temple with a dome on top to do yagya. During those time, they never used anything to lighten up the fire. Fire was eternal. Locals say there were some type of gases present in the atmosphere which keeps fire burning unceasingly. This temple is all about natural fire, how they purified their soul with fire, how they became aware of oil and then how this temple was attacked by the Russians.

After Fire temple we headed towards Fire Mountain Yanar Dag (please avoid google images). As the name say, this mountain is famous for eternal fire. This fire comes beneath the mountain due to some type of gases present in the soil, helps fire to continuously burn without extinguishing. Whatever be the season winter, snow, summer, rains, this fire mountain will keep burning. Followed by Wikipedia-Yanar Dag fires is the result of hydrocarbon gases emanating from below the earth’s surface. This is the open place (same like tabletop in Mahabaleshwar) with cool breeze. We were disappointed to see these place as google images were different than what we saw but at last selfies made our day. ;P

Back to Baku- After our lunch we headed to Baku old city, visiting- Martyrs’ Lane (formerly The Kirov Park), Mosque of the Martyrs’, Flame Tower (day look), Miniature Book museum, Vahid Monument, Baku national stadium(from outside), Double gates, and Baku National Flag. These all places were near to each other.

Flames tower (night look) – This tower is shaped in a flame way covered with LED screen. In night they play a beautiful LED lights on the tower showing the fire flame, designs and chess images. It is ideal to visit this place in night as it is more elegant and beautiful.

From the palace- Behind Flame Towers
Palace of the Shirvanshahs- In evening, we visited this palace and our guide has arranged for the English speaking attendant to explain the entire palace. The way she explained was remarkable as you can imagine the things going around you. How they used to order servants, Living room dome, jewelry of king, queen and horses, how they use to make judgement, punishment given to criminal, how they use to bring them in Darbar of the King, Bullets on the wall, bride search and socializing during bathing, etc. Overall it was amazing place to visit.

Nizami Street- I am so much in love with street as it makes me feel alive. We explored another area of street which was crowded, lively and happening. I loved, loved and loved roaming around this street hand filled with shopping bag (what else a lady want ;)). Al brands like Burberry, Louis Vuitton, MAC, Nike, Korean brands easily accessible. Then we explored another restaurant “Adam’s Curry” which was having varieties of veg option and I bet, you will never have such an amazing Dal tadka in any corner of the world. I became great fan of that place (foodie always visit where they get tasty food). After a tiring day if you get freshly made Dal tadka and hot hot phulkas with the ghee on the top, you just revive your energy. Finally we have finished our day with this place.

I hope you found my this blog as interesting and happening as my previous blog. Follow with me for DAY-3 journey. Till then be optimist, be happy, as life is precious and comes with lots of Surprises. Take care…

Hey my lovely Angels
Today I will be sharing my travelling experience with you all. Recently I made a visit to country named “Azerbaijan”. As I have heard this country name for the first time I was more excited to explore this country, as curiosity was gearing up. We did lot of research before visiting this place with the help of www.tripadvisor.com and http://www.google.com. We have made our list “places to be visited”.

This place is blessed with natural resources and here currency used is Manat. We can exchange currency at the airport or in any Bank of Azerbaijan as this currency is does not float much. Currency rate is 1$=1.65 Manat. Also be noted that language is the biggest barrier as they don’t understand English. May be sometimes you may have to use hand gesture to explain what you actually mean..But it’s fun 😉

Yes, we had landed to Baku in evening around 5 and finally at 6 checked into our Austin Hotel which is located in Nizami Street (heart of the Baku). Baku is famous for souvenirs, clothes, shoes, carpets, silk scarf, pottery and handmade purses. Do shop local cloth as it is cheaper and also visit famous Sadarak market (wholesale market) where you can buy everything like clothes, shoes, electronics etc. Finally our trip started at 7.00 pm in evening.

Day 1-
We started our trip with Nizami Street as our hotel was located in center of the Nizami Street. It’s a very lively and colorful street. This street has long Jhumars placed above, which lights up in evening adding more elegance to its beauty. People staying here has planted flower-pot in the balcony which add more grace to the street. It is 4 km Long Street surrounded with lot of branded shops. When you walk around this street there are many platforms prepared for the artist to express their art in front of public. They play rock music with electric guitars which creates vibrant atmosphere to uplift your mood to scream and shout out loud with the crowd. After having fun, we headed in the direction of old city exploring each park, fountains and most important thing “taking selfies”. The roads are super clean and after each km you will surprised seeing parks and fountain. Just roaming around this place gives your life. We have also experienced they were musician playing their traditional music in restaurant and streets which gave treat to wanderer’s ears while passing by the place. One thing I observed was after every few km there was chessboard painted on the corner of the road to play.

After walking for 4 Km to and fro we were damn hungry and had our dinner in Maharaja Restaurant which was having Veg options in their menu card. Lastly we headed back to hotel, all set to explore other side of this city next day.

Follow us for our next post to know more about Day 2. Till then be optimist, be happy, as life is precious and comes with lots of Surprises. Take care…
Day 2 to be continued…